David and Goliath

I know what you’re thinking, “not this story again”. But indulge me a bit because I believe the Lord has something more to say on this subject.

First of all consider that, though the scripture is silent on this, Saul and all of Israel had to have been praying to God, night and day, for deliverance from the Philistines and Goliath in particular. Consider also that David became the answer to their prayers only because he ACTED in faith while the others were merely PRAYING in faith. There is also no account of David, himself, praying before he acted. There was nothing more to pray about. Saul was the anointed king and he had prayed for God’s deliverance. What could David’s prayer possibly add to that? Action, not prayer was called for, and David stepped up to be God’s instrument of deliverance for all of Israel. God worked a miracle through David because David trusted in Him enough to act.

We know that “faith without works is dead”. But often we substitute prayer as the work, believing that somehow the act of praying to God is sufficient to trigger God’s response. I don’t find this evidenced anywhere in scripture. Hebrews 11, the great “hall of faith” chapter, gives us dozens of examples of men and women of faith throughout old testament history, and every one of these accounts reveals faith in ACTION, God moving miraculously through men and women who didn’t merely pray for deliverance, but became the vessels of it.

This is in no way an attempt to diminish the role of prayer in the church. Rather it is an exhortation to take prayer to the next level by learning that it isn’t the end of our work of faith, but merely the beginning of it. David could easily have dropped to his knees and began to pray along with Saul and all of Israel for God’s deliverance. He could’ve waited day after day, sacrificing animal after animal to try and move the heart of God. We would call this “waiting on the Lord” but I believe God would call it “waiting on us”.

And why does God do this? Why doesn’t He simply take action based on our prayers? Because He has given all authority and dominion on earth to mankind, and what He has established with His word, even He cannot take back.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
(Psa 89:34)

This means, like it or not, the red sea doesn’t part unless Moses stands and raises his staff over it; the walls of Jericho don’t fall unless Israel marches around it for six days; Lazarus doesn’t rise from the dead unless Christ calls to him… and our individual, personal destiny remains dormant until we DECLARE AND ACT on it in faith.


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